1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catheter used to pick a sample of a lesion cell tissue existing in a living body, and more particularly to a catheter capable of freely coupling or separating a micro biopsy tool and picking a tissue required for an examination just by inserting and extracting the biopsy tool into and from a lesion region when picking the tissue.
2. Background of the Related Art
A micro biopsy tool is a term referring to a needle or spike type micro tool capable of picking a micro tissue so as to examine and treat a lesion cell tissue existing in a living body. As an example of the micro biopsy tool, there is a barb-wired micro needle made of single crystal silicon. The micro biopsy tool can be manufactured through a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) process, a LIGA (Lithographic, Galvanoformung, Abformung) process, a precision metal processing and a mold.
As a use example of the micro biopsy tool, a pathological examination picking a tissue sample from a patient so as to diagnose the patient's disease is a very important process to diagnose the disease and to determine a treatment method. The micro biopsy tools may be used with being mounted in a catheter which is a kind of conduit which is inserted into a human organ such as a blood vessel or an urethra.
However, since a diagnosis method using a catheter according to the prior art picks an examinee's cell tissue in great quantity beyond necessity due to its structural cause, thereby causing a pain and a risk to the examinee. In addition, as a typical picking method, there is a method of picking the tissue with forceps. However, according to this method, a great pain is caused to the examinee. Further, when an operator, who lacks an experience in the tissue picking, performs the medical treatment, a digestive organ such as the stomach is perforated, so that an emergency may occur.
For solving the above problems, there are suggested catheter tools made by applying a precise micro machining process. As an example, there is suggested a catheter having improved a shape of the forceps so as to increase an accuracy of the tissue picking and a picking amount. FIG. 1 shows a catheter used to pick a tissue sample according to the prior art. As shown, the catheter comprises forceps jaws 202, a micro needle 204 and a main body 201.
The catheter 200 shown in FIG. 1 has a structure such that the micro needle 204 having a concavo-convex structure is mounted to a center of the catheter and the forceps jaws 202 are mounted to both sides of the needle. The catheter 200 of FIG. 1 picks a tissue such a manner that a surface of the tissue is stretched when pricking and drawing the tissue 300 with the micro needle 204 and then the forceps jaws 202 pick up and separate the stretched tissue. The catheter 200 of FIG. 1 has an advantage of securing an accurate picking amount when picking the tissue.
However, when picking the tissue with the catheter 200 of FIG. 1, since two processes of pricking the tissue with the micro needle 204 and picking and separating the tissue with the forceps jaws 202 should be performed, an examinee's pain is increased. In addition, there is an inconvenience that a movement of forceps jaws 202 should be manipulated to separate the tissue under state that the tissue is stretched with the micro needle 204.
Additionally, since a catheter such that shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured to be integral with the forceps, it should be discarded after being used once for the tissue picking. In other words, the prior catheter can be used only for a disposable.
Accordingly, there is a need of a catheter capable of alleviating an examinee's pain and being easily manipulated and repeatedly used.